So, what about voices in Empire?

[A Norseman]

I most certainly agree with the above poster, language is hugely important, and will still be so in Empire Total War.
As I see it, different accents are a way of separating different cultures and underline the huge culture clashes seen in both Medieval and Empire: Total War.

However, unlike medieval, the sounds will have to be done properly; having my Infamous Viking ship answer me with “DAH” really destroyed some of the feel I got from playing Norway in Kingdoms.

My opinion is that all the ingame sounds should be in language of the faction playing. So that the charging Swedish infantry yells “kutt dem ned!” rather than “Cut ’em down!” The advisors should all be English however..

Of course, all factions cannot have their own language, it would have to be separated into language groups, with some variations within each of the factions in each group.
To illustrate, here is a suggestion on language distribution:

Languages. Factions

English: ...........................England*, Scotland rebels, 13 colonies.
French: ...........................France.
German: ..........................German states, Prussia*, Netherlands.
Slavic*2: .........................Russia*, Poland-Lithuania.
Latin: ..............................Spain*, Italia city states.
Scandinavian: ...................Sweden*, Denmark-Norway
Turkish: ...........................Ottoman Empire
Indian*3: .........................India factions
Native American*3: ............Indians, Mesoamericans.
African*3: ........................African Languages.

* The decisive accent
*2 Slavic languages may be split into west and east Slavic.
*3 Native languages, may be a lot more.